The art of printing. The invention of printing was welcomed by the Jews as "the art of writing with many pens." From the time of the earlier printers reference is made to their craft as "holy work" ("'Abodat ha-Ḳodesh"). It may here be treated under the two headings of history and characteristics.

The history of Hebrew printing is divided into five stages, of which only a sketch can be attempted in this place, many of the details being already treated under the names of prominent printers or presses. The five stages of Hebrew typography are as follows: I., 1475-1500, incunabula in southern Europe; II., 1500-42, spread to north and east; III., 1542-1627, supremacy of Venice; IV., 1627-1732, hegemony of Amsterdam; V., 1732-1900, modern period, in which Frankfort, Vienna, and, more recently, Wilna and Warsaw have come to the front. For the most part Hebrew printing has been done by Jews, but the printing of Bibles has been undertaken also by Christian typographers, especially at the university towns of Europe. These productions, for lack of space, are for the most part to be neglected in the following sketch.

I. (1475-1500): It was twenty years before the Jews made use of the art for Hebrew printing, as the conditions in Germany did not admit of their doing so there; and all the Hebrew printing of the fifteenth century was done in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, where about 100 works were produced before 1500. Hebrew printing began in Italy; and apart from Reggio di Calabria, where the first printed book was produced in 1475, and Rome, where possibly the earliest Hebrew press was set up, printing was centered about Mantua, where it began in 1477. In the same year Ferrara and Bologna started printing. The chief printer family of Italy was that of the Soncinos, which besides working at Mantua printed at Casale-Maggiore, Soncino, Brescia, Naples, and Barca. Bible, Talmud, and ritual, halakic, and ethical works naturally formed the chief subjects of printing in these early days. In Spain, Hebrew printing began at Guadalajara in 1482, went three years later to Ixar, and finished at Zamora, while in Portugal it began at Faro in 1487, went to Lisbon in 1489, and finished at Leiria in 1792. The total number of books printed in Spain and Portugal amounted to only 17. The early types were rough in form; but the presswork for the most part was excellent, and the ink and paper were of very enduring quality. Owing to the work of the censor and the persecution of the Jews, the early productions of the Hebrew presses of Italy and the Iberian Peninsula are extremely rare, one-fifth of them being unique (for further particulars see Incunabula).

II. (1500-42): This period is distinguished by the spread of Jewish presses to the Turkish and Holy Roman empires. In Constantinople, Hebrew printing was introduced by David Naḥmias and his son Samuel about 1503; and they were joined in the year 1530 by Gershon Soncino, whose work was taken up after his death by his son Eleazar (see Constantinople—Typography). Gershon Soncino put into type the first Karaite work printed (Bashyaẓi's "Adderet Eliyahu.") in 1531. In Salonica, Don Judah Gedaliah printed about 30 Hebrew works from 1500 onward, mainly Bibles, and Gershon Soncino, the Wandering Jew of early Hebrew typography, joined his kinsman Moses Soncino, who had already produced 3 works there (1526-27); Gershon printed the Aragon Maḥzor (1529) and Ḳimḥi's "Shorashim" (1533). The prints of both these Turkish citieswere not of a very high order. The works selected, however, were important for their rarity and literary character. The type of Salonica imitates the Spanish Rashi type.Turning to Germany, the first Jewish press was set up in Prague by Gershon ben Solomon Cohen, who founded in that city a family of Hebrew printers, known commonly as "the Gersonides." He began printing in 1513 with a prayer-book, and during the period under review confined himself almost exclusively to this class of publications, with which he supplied Jewish Germany and Poland. He was joined about 1518 by Ḥayyim ben David Schwartz, who played in northern Europe the same wandering rôle the Soncinos assumed in the south. From 1514 to 1526 he worked at Prague, but in 1530 he was found at Oels in Silesia, printing a Pentateuch with the Megillot and Hafṭarot. He transferred his activity to the southwest at Augsburg, where in 1533 he published Rashi on the Pentateuch and Megillot, the next year a Haggadah, in 1536 a letter-writer and German prayer-book, and in 1540 an edition of the Ṭurim, followed by rimed Judæo-German versions of Kings (1543) and Samuel (1544). In 1544 he moved to Ichenhausen, between Augsburg and Ulm, and finally settled in 1546 at Heddernheim, where he published a few works. At Augsburg, 1544, the convert Paulus Emilius printed a Judæo-German Pentateuch. Three works of this period are known to have been printed at Cracow, the first of them, in 1534, a commentary of Israel Isserlein on "Sha'are Durah" with elaborately decorated title-page.V12p296001.jpgFrom Tractate 'Erubin, Printed by Bomberg, Venice, 1521.Other towns of Germany also printed Hebrew works during this period, but they were mainly portions of the Biblical books, mostly editions of the Psalms, produced by Christian printers for Christian professors, as at Cologne (1518), Wittenberg (1521 onward), Mayence (1523), Worms (1529), and Leipsic (1538). To these should be added Thomas Anshelm's edition of the Psalms at Tübingen in 1512. It was followed by his edition of Ḳimḥi's grammar at Hagenau, 1519. With these may be mentioned the Paris printers of the sixteenth century (from 1508 onward), who produced grammars and Bibles (see Paris).V12p296002.jpgFrom the First Illustrated Printed Haggadah, Prague, 1526.

Returning to the earlier home of Hebrew printing, a considerable number of towns in Italy had Hebrew presses early in the sixteenth century, mainly through the activity of Gershon Soncino, who is found in Fano (1515), Pesaro (1517), Ortona (1519), and Rimini (1521); other presses were temporarily worked in Trino, Genoa, and Rome, the last under Elijah Levita. In Bologna nine works were produced between 1537 and 1541, mainly prayer-books and responsa. Above all, this period is distinguished in Italy by the foundation and continuance of the Venetian press under the guidance of Daniel Bomberg, a Dutchman from Antwerp. His thirty-five years' activity from 1515 to 1549 was in a measure epoch-making for Hebrew typography. His productions shared in all the excellence of the Venice press, and included the first rabbinic Bible in 1517, the first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud in 1520 (its pagination is followed at the present day), a large number of editions of the Bible in whole or part, several grammatical, lexicographic, and midrashic works, seven commentaries on the Pentateuch, six responsa collections, philosophical and ethical writings, and several rituals, including a Tefillah and a Maḥzor according to the Spanish rite, one according to the Greek rite (Maḥzor Romania), and a Karaite one. Finally, reference should be made to the university press of Basel, where the Frobens produced Hebrew works in a remarkably clear type, with the letters slanting to the left, somewhat after the manner of the early Mantua editions. Froben began in 1516 with an edition of the Psalms, and produced many of the works of Elijah Levita and Sebastian Münster. Altogether Schwab (in "Incunables Orientaux," pp. 49-128) enumerates about 430 works produced between 1500 and 1540. Allowing for omissions by him, not more than 600 works were produced between 1475 and 1540.

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From the "Wikkuaḥ" Printed by Sebastian Münster, Basel, 1539.

III. (1542-1627): The third period is distinguished by the activity of the censor, which lasted for two centuries or more in southern and eastern Europe. The principle of regulating the books to be read by the faithful, and even by the unfaithful, was inaugurated by the Roman Curia in 1542, though the first carrying out of it was with the burning of the Talmud in 1554. But even previous to that date Jews had taken precautions to remove all cause of offense. About 1542 Meïr Katzenellenbogen censored the seliḥot of the German rite, and Schwartz adopted his changes in the edition which he published at Heddernheim in 1546.

Resuming the history of the Italian presses, that of Venice first engages attention. Bomberg was not allowed to have a monopoly of Hebrew printing, which had been found to be exceptionally profitable. Other Christians came into the field, especially Marco Antonio Giustiniani, who produced twenty-five works between 1545 and 1552. Another competitor arose in the person of Aloisio Bragadini, who began printing in 1550. In the competition both parties appealed to Rome; and their disputes brought about the burning of the Talmud in 1554 at Ferrara, and the strict enforcement of the censorship, even in Venice, the presses of which stopped printing Hebrew books for eight years. Similar competition appears to have taken place with regard to the Hebrew typesetters whom these Christian printers were obliged to employ. Cornelius Adelkind and his son, German Jews of Padua, first worked with Bomberg, and then were taken over by Farri (1544), and they appear to have also worked for both Bragadini and Giustiniani. There was a whole body of learned press-revisers. Among them should be mentioned Jacob b. Ḥayyim,the editor of the rabbinic Bible, and Meïr Katzenellenbogen, who helped to edit Maimonides' "Yad" (1550). When Venice ceased for a time to issue Hebrew books, printing was taken up in Ferrara (1551-1557) by Abraham Usque, who printed the "Consolaçam" of his brother Samuel Usque (1553). In Sabbionetta (1551-59) Tobias Foa printed about twenty works, among them a very correct edition of the Targum on the Pentateuch, employing the ubiquitous Adelkind to print a fine edition of the "Moreh" and an edition of the Talmud in parts, only one of which is extant. The Sabbionetta types are said to have gone back to Venice when the Bragadinis resumed work. In Cremona a Hebrew press was set up in 1556 by Vincentio Conti, who issued altogether forty-two works up to 1560, including the first edition of the Zohar, 2,000 copies of which were saved with difficulty from the fires of the Inquisition. His first edition of Menahem Zioni's commentary was not so fortunate; notwithstanding that it had received the license of the censor, it was burnt. About thirty-three works were produced during this period at Riva di Trento by Joseph Ottolenghi under the auspices of Cardinal Madruz, whose titular hat appears upon the title-pages of the volumes.

Reverting to Venice, printing was resumed in 1564 by Giovanni de Gara, who took up the work of Bomberg, and between 1564 and 1569 produced more than 100 different works, making use of Christian as well as Jewish typesetters, among the latter being Leon of Modena in the years 1595-1601. Besides Gara there were Grippo, Georgio de Cavalli, and the Zanetti family, but none of them could compete with the activity of the Bragadinis, which was resumed about the same time. They made use of Samuel Archevolti and Leon of Modena among their typesetters. It is worthy of mention that several important works appeared at Venice from printing establishments which can not be identified, including the editio princeps of the Shulḥan 'Aruk (1565). A few works were printed at Rome (1546-81) by Antonio Bladao and Francesco Zanetti, and a couple of works in Verona by Francesco delle Donne.

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From a Seliḥah, Heddernheim, 1546.

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From the Hutter Bible, Hamburg, 1587, Showing Hollow Servile Letters.

The greatest activity in Italy outside Venice was that carried on at Mantua by the Rufenellis, who employed Joseph Ashkenazi and Meïr Sofer, both from Padua, as their chief typesetters. Their activity was followed by that of Ephraim b. David of Padua and Moses b. Katriel of Prague, both working in the last decade of the sixteenth century, the latter for the publishers Norzi brothers. AltogetherZunz enumerates seventy-three works produced at Mantua during the third period, including a "Sefer Yeẓirah," "Tanḥuma," Aboab's "Menorat ha-Ma'or," and an edition of Abot in Italian.

During this period the Hebrew press of Basel received new light in the advent from Italy of Israel b. Daniel Sifroni, one of those wandering master workmen who, like Soncino and Schwartz, characterized the early history of Hebrew printing. Through his workmanship a number of important works were produced by Froben of Basel between 1578 and 1584, including a Babylonian Talmud, Isaac Nathan's Concordance, and the "'Ir Gibborim," whose publisher in Prague, finding that he could not have printing done as well there as by Sifroni, sent it to the latter in Basel. In the year 1583-84 Sifroni was working for Froben at Freiburg-im-Breisgau, where he printed several Judæo-German works, including the Five Megillot with glossary in red ink; he printed also an edition of Benjamin of Tudela's "Travels." Froben's success, like that of Bomberg, induced other Christian printers to join in competition, as Guarin (for whom Sifroni also worked), Beber, and especially Conrad Waldkirch, who from 1598 on published a Great Tefillah, an 'Aruk, an Alfasi in octavo, and "Synagogue Music and Songs" by Elijah b. Moses Loans, who was for a time Waldkirch's corrector for the press. Mordecai b. Jacob of Prossnitz, who, as shown below, had had a large printing experience in the east of Europe, also assisted Waldkirch in 1622. After his departure the Basel Hebrew prints became scarcer, and were confined mainly to the productions of the Buxtorfs, while only sporadic Hebrew works were produced at Altdorf, Bern, and Zurich (where, however, one of the finest specimens of Hebrew printing had been produced in the Judæo-German "Yosippon" of 1546). Reference may be here made to prints of Paulus Fagius at Constance in 1643-44, mainly with Judæo-German or Latin translations. Altogether the total number of Hebrew works produced in Switzerland was not more than fifty.

The history of the Hebrew press in Denmark deserves treatment in fuller detail, as it has been recently investigated by Simonsen. In 1598 Heinrich Waldkirch imported some inferior Hebrew type to Copenhagen from Wittenberg; but nothing of importance was printed during the following three decades. In 1631 Solomon Sartor published some excerpts from the Bible; and in 1663 Henrik Göde printed similar extracts. In 1734 Marius Fogh (who later became city magistrate of Odense) published an edition of Isaac Abravanel's commentary on Gen. xlix. This work, which bore the imprint of the Copenhagen publishing-house of I. C. Rothe, was for sale as late as 1893. Christian Nold's concordance of the Bible appeared in 1679 from the press of Corfitz Luft in Copenhagen, and the solid quarto volume, containing 1,210 pages, gives evidence of the author's diligence, as well as of the printer's skill and care. A Lutheran pastor, Lauritz Petersen, in Nyköbing on the island of Falster, published in 1640 a new Hebrew versification of the Song of Solomon, intended as a wedding-present for the son of King Christian IV. and his bride Magdalena Sibylla. This work, which was entitled "Canticum Canticorum Salomonis," consisted of Hebrew verse with Danish translation, and with various melodies added; it was printed by Melchior Martzau. Samuel ben Isaac of Schwerin published in 1787 some Talmudic annotations entitled "Minḥat Shemu'el," printed by the Copenhagen firm of Thiele, but showing evidence of lack of skill.

To revert to Switzerland, Fagius printed a number of Biblical, grammatical, and polemical works at Isny, with the help of Elijah Levita, who produced there the "Tishbi," "Meturgeman," and "Baḥur," besides a German translation of the "Sefer ha-Middot" in 1542, which is now very rare. Another Christian printer who is mentioned throughout this period is Hans Jacob Hene, who produced about thirty Jewish works in Hebrew at Hanau (1610-30). He cateredmore to the students of the Talmud and Halakah, producing three responsa collections, three commentaries on the Talmud, the Ṭur and Shulḥan 'Aruk, and three somewhat similar codes, as well as a number of Judæo-German folk editions like the "Zuchtspiegel" or the "Brandspiegel" (1626), and the "Weiberbuch" of Benjamin Aaron Solnik. Among his typesetters were a couple of the Ulmas, of the Günzburg family, and Mordecai b. Jacob Prossnitz, who has already been mentioned. Hene's type is distinguished by its clearness, and by the peculiar form of the "shin" in the so-called "Weiberdeutsch." Other isolated appearances of Hebrew works at Tannhausen (1594), Thiengen (1660), and Hergerswiese did not add much to German Jewish typography in this period.

Meantime, in eastern Europe, the Gersonides continued their activity at Prague, especially in the printing of ritual works; but they suffered from the competition of the Bak family, who introduced from Italy certain improvements from the year 1605 onward. Among the typesetters at Prague in this period was the Jewess Gütel (daughter of Löb Setzer), who set up a work in 1627. At Prague almost for the first time is found the practise of rabbis issuing their responsa from the local presses. The decoration employed by the Prague press of this period was often somewhat elaborate. Besides the illustrated Haggadah of 1526, the title-page of the Ṭur of 1540 is quite elaborate and includes the arms of Prague.

In Cracow Isaac ben Aaron of Prossnitz revived the Hebrew press in 1569, and produced a number of Talmudic and cabalistic works from that time to his death in 1614, when his sons succeeded to his business. He was assisted by Samuel Bohn, who brought from Venice the Italian methods and titlepage designs, which were used up to about 1580. He produced, besides the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, two editions of the Midrash Rabbot, the "Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni" (1596), and several works of Moses Isserles and Solomon Luria, besides the "Yuḥasin," "Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah," and "Yosippon." Isaac b. Aaron for a time ran a press in his native city of Prossnitz, where from 1602 to 1605 he published four works.

Lublin competed with Cracow for the eastern trade from 1556 onward, when an edition of the tractate Shebu'ot appeared in the former city. Its printers were mainly of the Jaffe family; Kalonymus Abraham (1562-1600) was followed by his son Ẓebi (1602 onward), who made use of the services of the above mentioned Mordecai b. Jacob of Prossnitz. The prints of the Jaffes were mainly productions of local rabbis and Judæo-German works. During the plague which ravaged Lublin in 1592 Kalonymus Jaffe moved his printing establishment to Bistrovich, whence he issued a Haggadah with Abravanel's commentary.

It should perhaps be added that at Antwerp and Leyden in this period Biblical works by Christian printers appeared, at the former place by the celebrated Christopher Plantin, who got his type from Bomberg's workshop.

IV. (1627-1732): This period is opened and dominated by the foundation of the press at Amsterdam, the rich and cultured Maranos of the Dutch capital devoting their wealth, commercial connections, and independent position to the material development of Hebrew literature in book form. For nearly a century after its foundation Amsterdam supplied the whole of Teutonic Europe with Hebrew books; and the term "Defus Amsterdam" was used to denote type of special excellence even though cast elsewhere, just as the term "Italic" was applied to certain type cast not only in Italy but in other countries. The first two presses were set up in the year 1627, one under Daniel de Fonseca, the other under Manasseh ben Israel, who in the following twenty years printed more than sixty works, many of them his own, with an excellent edition of the Mishnah without vowels, and, characteristically enough, a reprint of Almoli's "Pitron Ḥalomot" (1637). The work in later times was mainly done by his two sons, Ḥayyim and Samuel. Toward the latter part of Manasseh ben Israel's career as a printer an important competitor arose in the person of Immanuel Benveniste, who in the twenty years 1641-60 produced prayer-books, a Midrash Rabbah, an Alfasi, and the Shulḥan 'Aruk, mostly decorated with elaborate titles supported by columns, which became the model for all Europe. He was followed by the firm of Gumpel & Levi (1648-60). Particularinterest attaches to the name of Uri Phoebus ha-Levi, an apprentice of Benveniste's who was in business in Amsterdam on his own account from 1658 to 1689. He was the medium through which the Amsterdam methods of printing were transferred to Zolkiev between 1692 and 1695. His productions, though in the Amsterdam style, were generally of a less costly and elegant nature, and he appears to have printed prayer-books, Maḥzors, calendars, and Judæo-German works for the popular market. Just as Uri Phoebus worked for the German Jews, so Athias contemporaneously published ritual works for the Spanish Jews, who demanded usually a much higher grade of printing, paper, and binding than did their poorer German coreligionists (1660-83). Athias' editions of the Bible, and especially of the Pentateuch, for which he had Leusden's help, are especially fine; and the edition of Maimonides' "Yad" which his son and successor, Immanuel, published in 1703, is a noteworthy piece of printing. A third member of the Athias family printed in Amsterdam as late as 1739-40.The Sephardic community of Amsterdam had also the services of Abraham de Castro Tartas (1663-95), who had learned his business under the Ben Israels. He printed, chiefly, works in Spanish and Portuguese, and in the decoration of his titles was fond of using scenes from the life of David. A number of Poles who fled to Amsterdam from the Cossack uprisings in 1648-56 were employed by Christian printers of that city, as Albertus Magnus, Christoph von Ganghel, the Steen brothers, and Bostius, the last-named of whom produced the great Mishnah of Surenhusius (1698-1703). A most curious phenomenon is presented by Moses ben Abraham, a Christian of Nikolsburg, who was converted to Judaism, and who printed several works between 1690 and 1694. Abraham, the son of another proselyte named Jacob, was an engraver who helped to decorate the Passover Haggadah of 1695, printed by Kosman Emrich, who produced several important works between 1692 and 1714.

Less important presses at the beginning of this period were erected in Amsterdam by Moses Coutinho, Isaac de Cordova, Moses Dias, and the firm of Soto & Brando. Members of the Maarssen family are also to be reckoned among the more productive Hebrew printers of Amsterdam. Jacob, Joseph, David, and Mahrim Maarssen produced many works between 1695 and 1740, among them reproductions of cursive writing. The last-named settled later at Frankfort-on-the-Main. By this time the Hebrew press at Amsterdam had become entirely dominated by mercantile considerations, and was represented by the publishing- and printing-houses of Solomon ben Joseph Proops, whose printed catalogue "Appiryon Shelomoh," 1730 (the first known of its kind), shows works published by him to be mainly rituals and a few responsa, two editions of the "'En Ya'aḳob," the "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot," and the "Menorat ha-Ṃa'or," two editions of the Zohar (1715), and the Judæo-German "Ma'asehbuch." Proops was evidently adapting himself to the popular taste from 1697 onward. The house established by him continued to exist down to the middle of the nineteenth century, Joseph and Jacob and Abraham being members thereof from 1734 until about 1780. They were followed by Solomon ben Abraham Proops in 1799, while a David ben Jacob Proops, the last of the family, died in 1849, and his widow sold the business to I. Levisson.

Mention should be made here of the two Ashkenazic Dayyanim of Amsterdam, who added printing to their juridical accomplishments, Joseph Dayyan from 1719 to 1737, and Moses Frankfurter from 1720 to 1743; the latter produced between the years 1724 and 1728 the best-known edition of the rabbinic Bible. The only other Amsterdam printer whom it is necessary to mention is Solomon London (c. 1721), on account of his later connection with Frankfort-on-the-Main.

Resuming the history of the Prague press during this period, the Bak family continued its activity, especially in printing a number of Judæo-German works, mostly without supplying the place or the date of publication. Many local folk-songs in German now exist only in these productions. One of the productions of this firm, a Maḥzor, the first volume of which appeared in Prague in 1679, was finished in Wekelsdorf by the production of the second volume in 1680.

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From a Pentateuch, Amsterdam, 1726.

Another offshoot of the Prague press was that of Wilhermsdorf, which was founded in 1669 in order to take advantage of the paper-mills erected there by Count von Hohenlohe. The first printer there was Isaac Cohen, one of the Gersonides who printed two works there in poor style in 1691. He was followed in 1712 by Israel ben Meïr of Prague, who sold out to Hirsch ben Ḥayyim of Fürth. Among the 150 productions of these presses may be mentioned a list of post-offices, markets, and fairs compiled by the printer Hirsch ben Ḥayyim and printed in 1724.

In Prague itself the Baks found a serious competitor in Moses Cohen Ẓedeḳ, founder of the Katz family of typographers; this competition lasted for nearly a century, the two houses combining in 1784 as the firm of Bak & Katz.

Cracow during this period is distinguished by the new press of Menahem (Nahum) Meisels, which continued for about forty years from 1631 onward, producing a considerable number of Talmudic and cabalistic works, including such productions of the local rabbis, as the "Ḥiddushe Agadot" of Samuel Edels; this was put up in type by Judah Cohen of Prague, and corrected by Isaac of Brisk. The year 1648, so fatal to the Jews of Slavonic lands, was epoch-making for both Cracow and Lublin. At the latter place a few works appeared from 1665 onward, mainly from the press of Samuel Kalmanka (1673-83) of the Jaffe family.

This period is especially distinguished by the rise of the Jewish Hebrew press in Germany, chiefly in five centers: (1) Frankfort-on-the-Main, (2) Sulzbach, (3) Dessau, (4) Hamburg, and (5) Dyhernfurth. For various reasons presses were erected also in the vicinity of each of these centers. In Frankfort-on-the-Main the municipal law prohibited any Jew from erecting a printing-press, so that, notwithstanding its large and wealthy Jewish population, the earliest Hebrew productions of this city came from Christian printers, especially Christian Wüst, who produced a Bible in 1677, and an edition of the "Ḥawwot Yaïr" in 1699. Then came the press of Blasius Ilsner, who began printing Hebrew in 1682, and produced the "Kuhbuch" of Moses Wallich in 1687, in which year he produced also part of a German Pentateuch as well as a standard edition of the Yalḳut. This last was published by the bookseller Seligmann Reis. Besides other Christian printers like Andreas and Nicholas Weinmann, Johann Koelner produced a number of Hebrew works during the twenty years 1708-27, including the continuation of an edition of the Talmud begun at Amsterdam and finished at Frankfort-on-the-Main (1720-23); it is probable thatthe type was brought from Amsterdam. An attempt of Koelner to produce 1,700 copies of an Al-fasi by means of a lottery failed, though an edition was produced in Amsterdam four years later. Many of the typesetters of Amsterdam and Frankfort about this period frequently alternated their residence and activity between the two cities. In 1727 few Hebrew books were produced at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In connection with the Frankfort book market a number of presses in the neighborhood turned out Hebrew books, in Hanau as early as 1674. The book entitled "Tam we-Yashar" was printed there, with Frankfort as its place of publication. From 1708 onward Bashuysen produced a series of books, including Abravanel on the Pentateuch (1710), which was issued by Reis of Frankfort. Among his workmen were David Baer of Zolkiev, who had worked at Amsterdam, and Menahem Maneli of Wilmersdorf. Bashuysen sold his rights to Bousang (1713), who continued producing Hebrew works till 1725.

Homburg was also one of the feeding-presses for Frankfort, from 1711 to 1750. Its press was possessed from 1737 on by Aaron of Dessau, an inhabitant of the Frankfort Judengasse, who produced among other works two editions of the "Ḥiddushim" of Maharam Schiff (1745). Seligmann Reis, who had learned printing in Amsterdam, started another press in Offenbach (1714-20), mostly for Judæo-German pamphlets, including a few romances like the "Artus Hoof," "Floris and Blanchefleur," and "The Seven Wise Masters." In opposition to Reis was Israel Moses, working under the Christian printer De Launoy from 1719 to 1724 and for himself till as late as 1743.

The history of the Sulzbach Hebrew press is somewhat remarkable. On May 12, 1664, one Abraham Lichtenthaler received permission to found a printing-press at Sulzbach. He began to print in 1667 Knorr von Rosenroth's "Kabbala Denudata," a work which was for the Christian world the chief source of information as to the Cabala. This appears to have attracted to Sulzbach Isaac Cohen Gersonides, who produced in the year 1669 a couple of Judæo-German works, "Leb Ṭob" and "Shebeṭ Yehudah," from the press of Lichtenthaler. Nothing followed these first productions till the "Kabbala Denudata" was finished in 1684, when Knorr determined to have an edition of the Zohar printed at Sulzbach, and for that purpose had one Moses Bloch cut Hebrew letters, with which the Zohar was printed in a rather elementary fashion. This attracted attention to Sulzbach as a printing-place; and an imperfect edition of the Talmud was printed in 1694 by Bloch and his son (the latter succeeded Bloch). The competition of the Amsterdam edition of 1697-99 prevented its completion. One of the most curious productions of the Sulzbach press was a Purim parody, which was issued anonymously in 1695. Bloch was followed by Aaron Frankel, son of one of the exiles of Vienna, and founder of the Frankel-Arnstein family, having worked at the office of Bloch as early as 1685. He set up his press in 1699, his first production being a Maḥzor and part of the Talmud; and his son Meshullam carried on the press for forty years from 1724 to 1767. One hundred and fourteen productions of the Sulzbach press have been enumerated up to 1732.

Fürth also commenced in this period its remarkable activity as a producer of Hebrew works, more distinguished perhaps for quantity than quality. Beginning in 1691 just as the Wilmersdorf press gave up, Joseph Shneior established a press at Fürth, which produced about thirty works during the next eight years. Most of his typesetters had come from Prague. An opposition press was set up later (1694, 1699) by Ẓebi Hirsch ha-Levi and his son-in-law Mordecai Model. This was one of the presses which had as a typesetter a woman, Reichel, daughter of Isaac Jutels of Wilmersdorf. The former press was continued in 1712 by Samuel Bonfed, son of Joseph Shneior, together with Abraham Bing (1722-24); the firm lasted till 1730.

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From a "She'elot u-Teshubot" of Eybeschütz, Carlsruhe, 1773.

Similar presses were founded at Dessau by Moses Bonem (1696), and at Köthen in 1707-18 by Israel ben Abraham, the proselyte, who had previously worked at Amsterdam, Offenbach, and Neuwied. Israel then transferred his press to Jessnitz, where he worked till about 1726, at which date he removed it to Wandsbeck, near Hamburg, staying there till 1733, when he wandered to Neuwied and back to Jessnitz (1739-44) together with his sons Abrahamand Tobias. Another proselyte, Moses ben Abraham, had printed Hebrew in Halle (1709-14).

The earliest production of the Hebrew press of Hamburg was a remarkable edition of a Hebrew Bible, set up by a Christian, Elias Hutter, and having the servile letters distinguished by hollow type, so as to bring out more clearly the radical letters. Hutter was followed by two Christians: (1) George Ravelin, who printed a Pentateuch with Targum and Hafṭarot in 1663; and (2) Thomas Rose, who from 1686 to 1715 printed several Jewish books and who was succeeded by his son Johann Rose up to 1721. In the neighboring city of Altona Samuel Poppart of Coblenz started printing in 1720, mainly ritual matters; and he was followed by Ephraim Heksher in 1732 and Aaron Cohen of Berlin in 1735.

Finally more to the east Shabbethai Bass established at Dyhernfurth in 1689 a printing-press especially devoted to meeting the wants of the Breslau book market, which had hitherto been dependent upon Amsterdam or Prague. For the varying history of his press, which lasted till 1713, see his biography (Jew. Encyc. ii. 583). It was sold by Shabbethai's son Joseph to his son-in-law Issachar Cohen for 5,000 thalers, who carried it on till 1729, when he died, his wife then continuing the business.

Hebrew works were early printed at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, by two Christians, Hartmann Brothers, from 1595 to 1596, who produced Bibles, and Eichhorn, who printed the "Musar Haskel" of Hai Gaon in 1597. Their work was continued in the next century by Professor Beckmann in 1681, and Michael Gottschek, who produced, at the cost of Baermann Halberstade, an edition of the Babylonian Talmud in 1698 to supply the loss of the Talmuds during the Cossack outbreaks. A second edition of this Talmud was produced by Gottschek in company with Jablonski at Berlin, who had purchased a Hebrew set of types in 1697. They began work in 1699, and produced a Pentateuch with a Rashbam in 1705, and the aforesaid Talmud in 1715-21. One of his chief typesetters was Baruch Buchbinder, who afterward printed in Prausnitz. Other Hebrew books were produced by Nathan Neumark (1720-26), in whose employ Aaron Cohen, afterward at Altona, learned to set type.

In this period a beginning of Hebrew typography was made also in the British Isles, by Samuel Clarke at Oxford about 1667, and by Thomas Ilive (1714-1718) in London, both Christian printers.

To return to the south of Europe: the Venice press was carried on by a succession of the Bragadinis: Aloisio II. (1625-28), Geralamo (1655-64), and Aloisio III. (1697-1710). Among the Jewish setters or correctors for the press employed by the Bragadinis may be mentioned Leo de Modena, Moses Zacuto, Menahem Ḥabib, Moses Ḥayyim of Jerusalem, and Solomon Altaras. The chief competitor of the Bragadinis was Vendramini, from 1631 onward; but the opposition of Amsterdam reduced the activity of the Venetian press toward the end of the seventeenth century, while Leghorn began to cater to the printing of the Oriental Jews about 1650, when Jedidiah Gabbai produced the "azharot" of Solomon ibn Gabirol. His chief production was a Yalḳuṭ in 1660, after which he removed to Florence and finally settled in Smyrna, where his son Abraham printed from 1659 to 1680 with the aid of Samuel Valenci from Venice. Abraham's productions include a few Ladino works in Hebrew characters, among the earliest of the kind. In Constantinople a family of printers named Franco—Solomon (1639), Abraham (1641-83), and Abraham (1709-20)—produced a number of casuistic works. Among their typesetters was Solomon of Zatanof (1648), who had escaped the Cossack outbreaks. The pause from 1683 to 1710 was broken by two Poles from Amsterdam, Jonah of Lemberg and Naphtali of Wilna. Jonah of Lemberg printed a few of his works at Ortakeui, near Constantinople, and finally settled at Smyrna.

V12p306001.jpg

From "Sefer Ḥokmat ha-Mishkan," Leghorn, 1772.

V12p306002.jpg

From Moses Eidlitz's "Meleket ha-Ḥeshbon," Prague, 1775.

V12p307001.jpg

From "Siddur Hegyon Leb," Königsberg, 1845.

V12p307002.jpg

From a Karaite "Siddur," Vienna, 1851.

V12p307003.jpg

From Pentateuch, Vienna, 1859.

With the year 1732 the detailed history of Hebrew typography must cease. It would be impossible to follow in minute detail the spread of Hebrew presses throughout the world during the last 160 years. The date 1732 is also epoch-making in the history of Hebrew bibliography, as up to that date the great work of Johann Christoph Wolf, amplified and corrected by Steinschneider in his "Bodleian Catalogue," gives a complete account of the personnel of the Hebrew press, both Jewish and Christian. The list of these printers given by Steinschneider is of considerable importance, both for identifying unknown or imperfect works of the earlier period, and as affording information of persons learned in Hebrew lore who utilized it only as typesetters or correctors for the press. Many, if not most, of the more distinguished families of recent date have been connected with these masters of printing, whose names are thus of importance for pedigree purposes (see Pedigree). For these reasons Steinschneider's list is here reprinted in shortened form.

From 1732 many of the presses already referred to have continued their activity down to the present day. That of Leghorn, for example, began a new life in 1740 in the workshop of Abraham Meldola; and he was followed by a number of Hebrew printers, who found a market for their products in the Levant and the Barbary States, so much so that Christian printers like Carlo Gorgio (1779) and Giovanni Falerno (1779) found it worth while to compete in producing ritual and cabalistic works for the southern markets. This period also saw the beginning of the remarkable activity of Wolf Heidenheim at Rödelheim, producing the well-known editions of the ritual. These, while originally intended for the Frankfort market, have been used by Ashkenazic congregations throughout the world; and the Tefillah had run to as many as 128 editions by 1902 ("Zeit. für Hebr. Bibl." v. 99). This period was likewise marked by the inauguration of Hebrew printing at Carlsruhe, at first under the egis of Christian printers beginning with Johann Herald in 1755, and later under Wilhelm Lotter from 1766. It was not till 1782 that Hirsch Wormser and his brother-in-law were allowed to start a printing-press, chiefly for ritual works. They were followed in 1814 by David Marx. Altogether about 61 Hebrew prints from this press are known.

But the period is especially noteworthy for the rise and development of Hebrew printing in the lands where most persons lived who were acquainted with Hebrew. It is somewhat difficult to account for the fact that there was absolutely no Hebrew printing in the districts now constituting Russian Poland and the Pale of Settlement till past the middle of the eighteenth century, though they have for the past 200 years contained the largest number of Jews and the greatest number of those acquainted with Hebrew. In the old Polish kingdom the Council of the Four Lands kept a somewhat rigid control over the production of Hebrew books, to which it secured a kind of copyright by threatening excommunication for anybody reprinting works having its approbation. The Cossack outrages of 1648 had destroyed the chance of any independent printing in these countries, and the markets were mainly supplied by Prague, Cracow, Lublin, and later Frankfort-on-the-Oder. It was not till after the troublous period of the three partitions (1772-95) that local presses began to be established in Russia. Mention may here perhaps be made of the printing of the Karaite Tefillah (1784) at Eupatoria (not yet, however, within the precincts of the Russian empire), followed by that of the Krimchaks in the next year, and reference may also be made to two or three works printed at Olexnitz (1760-67) in connection with the beginnings of Ḥasidism. Soon after this, printing had begun in Koretz (1777), and was followed at Neuhof (Novy Dvor) near Warsaw (1782), at Polonnoye (1783-91), at Shklov (1783), and at Poretzk (1786-91). Lithuania for the first time obtained a printing-press of its own by the privilege granted by King Stanislaus Augustus to Baruch Romm, who established a printing-office at Grodno in 1789. After the settlement at the third partition under Catherine II., a considerable number of Russianprinting-offices sprang up, which will be found in the list on pages 328 and 330. They continued to increase during the nineteenth century till Nicholas I. in 1845 passed a law restricting all Hebrew printing to two establishments, one at Wilna, the other at Slavuta. Königsberg, Johannisberg, Lyck, Memel, Eydtkuhnen, and other cities of East Prussia supplied the Russian requirements. This practically gave a monopoly of the Russian market to the firm of Romm, which had moved from Grodno to Wilna in 1799. But it maintained connection with Grodno, producing in 1835 a well-known edition of the Talmud which bears the imprint "Wilna and Grodno." The Romms down to the present day continue to be the most extensive Hebrew printers in Russia; but of recent years the Warsaw publishing firms "Tushiyyah" and "Aḥiasaf" produce perhaps even to a larger extent than the Wilna firm.

Mention may be made here of the Austrian presses in the nineteenth century, which have been very productive, especially those of Vienna, where Anton von Schmid obtained from 1800 onward the monopoly for the Austrian empire, and as a consequence produced about 250 Hebrew works, including a reprint of the Mendelssohn Bible and many Jewish prayer-books, besides the periodical "Bikkure ha'Ittim." He was succeeded by his son, from whom the business was bought by De la Torre. The monopoly being given up, J. Schlesinger assumed the work; he devoted himself especially to rituals also for the outlying colonies of Jews, producing a Siddur for the Yemen Jews, a Maḥzor for the Algerian Jews, and other rituals for northern Africa; the Catalonian and Aragonian congregations of Salonica also had their rituals printed at Vienna. Other Austrian and Hungarian presses were at Lemberg, Cracow (Joseph Fischer), Presburg (Alkalai), Paks, Przemysl, Lublin, etc.

Mention has already been made of the beginnings of Oriental typography in the city of Constantinople. Toward the end of the sixteenth century Donna Reyna Mendesia founded what might be called a private printing-press at Belvedere or Kuru Chesme (1593). The next century the Franco family, probably from Venice, also established a printing-press there, and was followed by Joseph b. Jacob of Solowitz (near Lemberg), who established at Constantinople in 1717 a press which existed to the end of the century. He was followed by a Jewish printer from Venice, Isaac de Castro (1764-1845), who settled at Constantinople in 1806; his press is carried on by his son Elia de Castro, who is still the official printer of the Ottoman empire. Both the English and the Scotch missionsto the Jews published Hebrew works at Constantinople.

Together with Constantinople should be mentioned Salonica, where Judah Gedaliah began printing in 1512, and was followed by Solomon Jabez (1516) and Abraham Bat-Sheba (1592). Hebrew printing was also conducted here by a convert, Abraham ha-Ger. In the eighteenth century the firms of Naḥman (1709-89), Miranda (1730), Falcon (1735), and Ḳala'i (1764) supplied the Orient with ritual and halakic works. But all these firms were outlived by an Amsterdam printer, Bezaleel ha-Levi, who settled at Salonica in 1741, and in whose name the publication of Hebrew and Ladino books and periodicals still continues. The Jabez family printed at Adrianople before establishing its press at Salonica; the Hebrew printing annals of this town had a lapse until 1888, when a literary society entitled Doreshe Haskalah published some Hebrew pamphlets, and the official printing-press of the vilayet printed some Hebrew books.

V12p324001.jpgFrom ḤayyimVital's "Sha'are Ḳedushshah," Aleppo, 1866.

From Salonica printing passed to Safed in Palestine, where Abraham Ashkenazi established in 1588 a branch of his brother Eleazar's Salonica house. According to some, the Shulḥan 'Aruk was first printed there. In the nineteenth century a member of the Bak family printed at Safed (1831-41), and from 1864 to 1884 Israel Dob Beer also printed there. So too at Damascus one of the Bat-Shebas brought a press from Constantinople in 1706 and printed for a time. In Smyrna Hebrew printing began in 1660 with Abraham b. Jedidiah Gabbai; and no less than thirteen other establishments have from time to time been founded. One of them, that of Jonah Ashkenazi, lasted from 1731 to 1863. E. Griffith, the printer of the English Mission, and B. Tatiḳian, an Armenian, also printed Hebrew works at Smyrna. A single work was printed at Cairo in 1740. Hebrew printing has also been undertaken at Alexandria since 1875 by one Faraj Ḥayyim Mizraḥi.

One of the Jerusalem printers, Elijah Sassoon, moved his establishment to Aleppo in 1866. About the same time printing began in Bagdad under Mordecai & Co., who recently have had the competition of Judah Moses Joshua and Solomon Bekor Ḥussain. At Beirut the firm of Selim Mann started printing in 1902. Reverting to the countries formerly under Turkish rule, it may be mentioned that Hebrew and Ladino books have been printed at Belgrade since 1814 at the national printing establishment by members of the Alḳala'i family. Later Jewish printing-houses are those of Eleazar Rakowitz and Samuel Horowitz (1881). In Sarajevo Hebrew printing began in 1875; and another firm, that of Daniel Kashon, started in 1898. At Sofia there have been no less than four printing-presses since 1893, the last that of Joseph Pason (1901), probably from Constantinople. Also at Rustchuk, since 1894, members of the Alḳala'i family have printed, while at Philippopolis the Pardo Brothers started their press in 1898 before moving it to Safed. Altogether in the Levant about eighteen cities have had 121 Hebrew printing establishments between 1504 and 1905. Their productions have been mainly rituals, responsa of local rabbis, and Cabala; the type has been mostly Rashi, and the result has not been very artistic.

In the English-speaking lands Hebrew printing proceeded slowly among the Jews. In England, for example, after a few Hebrew books had been printed by Christian printers the Alexanders began their series of prayer-books about 1770, which have continued to be reissued down to the present day; they were succeeded by the Valentines. The firm of Wertheimer, Lea & Co. printed most of the Jewish Hebrew productions of England till recently, including the first edition of the popular authorized prayer-book, of which 100,000 copies have been issued. The Clarendon Press, however, has during the last thirty years printed many works on rabbinic subjects, and has been followed by the Pitt Press of Cambridge, which issued especially the Mishnah edition by W. H. Lowe and the "Pirḳe Abot" of C. Taylor.

V12p326001.jpgFromRabinowicz's "Catalogue Merzbacher," Munich, 1888.

In the British colonies only sporadic works have been published at Bombay and Aden, where the Yemen Jews have recently been printing a few of their manuscripts in oblong format. The use of Hebrew type in the Australian and African colonies appears to be confined to newspapers. The same applies to the French colonies in North Africa, though various productions have appeared at Algiers, Tunis, and Oran.

In the United States Hebrew printing was even later in appearance. Apart from a reprint at Philadelphia in 1814 of Athias' unpointed Bible, and Leeser's reprint of the Van der Hooght Bible in 1849, the first Hebrew book printed in America was "Abne Yehoshua'," by Joshua Falk, at New York in 1860. The chief production of the Hebrew press of the United States hitherto has been the commentary on Job by B. Szold, printed by I. Friedenwald at Baltimore; but since the emigration from Russia and Rumania large numbers of occasional works have been produced at New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. In the first-named city the productions of the press of A. H. Rosenberg are voluminous.

A great deal of very good Hebrew printing, however, is done by non-Jewish printers, and often at university presses, where the Christian theologians who devote their attention to rabbinics print their lucubrations. In addition, presses that make a special business of Oriental printing, like those of Drugulin of Leipsic and Brill of Leyden, also produce Hebrew works, the former having printed the well-known Polychrome Bible edited by Professor Haupt and published at Baltimore. By a special process the various sources of the Biblical books in this edition are distinguished by different colors, not of the type, but of the paper upon which the sections are printed. The various Bible societies have also produced some fine specimens of Hebrew printing, the chief being the so-called Letteris Bible, having the Authorized Version at the side, printed at Vienna; and the Ginsburg Bible, printed by the court printer Karl Fromme in Vienna. The Masorah, also edited by Ginsburg, is another fine piece of Hebrew printing by Fromme; while one of the best Hebrew prints is the fifth edition of the translation into Hebrew of the New Testament, by Franz Delitzsch, printed by Trowitsch & Co. of Berlin.

The following is a list (extending from the introduction of printing to the present day) of towns at which Hebrew presses are known to have existed; those places in which only Christian printers have been concerned, mainly in issuing Biblical editions, are set in italics. As far as possible, dates have been given for the first publication of Hebrew at the different localities. Where this was effected by Christian printers the date is marked with an asterisk. The letters "J. E." within parentheses following the names of towns indicate that special articles are given in The Jewish Encyclopedia upon the typography of such towns. In a number of instances special monographs have been written upon the typography of various places, and these are cited together with their references. The remaining towns are mentioned by Steinschneider in his "Jüdische Typographie," in Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." (section ii., part 28, pp. 21-94), or by Zedner and Harkavy. In a few instances the entries from Zedner may refer to publication rather than to printing.

There are in all four chief forms in which Hebrew letters are printed: the square; the Rashi; the Weiberteutsch, so called because it was used for the "Ẓe'enah u-Re'enah" read by women; and finally the cursive, imitating the handwriting used for business and other correspondence. The first three appeared as early as the beginning of Hebrew typography (see Incunabula); the fourth, only in the eighteenth century, mainly in books on business training, writing-books in this character being produced at Amsterdam in 1715.

One of the characteristics of Hebrew printing from its beginning was the different sizes in which the characters were printed, the Ṭur of Piove di Sacco, 1475, already showing three forms. This is attributed to the commentatorial character of rabbinic literature, the commentary naturally being printed in a smaller type than the text, and the supercommentary in a still smaller one, and the index to both in a yet more minute type. Such a difference of types soon led to the arrangement by which the text was printed in the center, with the commentaries in concentric arrangement around it. This plan has been employed with increasing elaboration; and in the last rabbinic Bible printed by the firm of Schrifgiesser at Warsaw no less than thirty-two commentaries are included, many of which are on a single page. In the beginning this arrangement simply followed that of the ordinary medieval manuscripts in which commentaries occurred. To fill spaces that would otherwise remain empty recourse was had to the use of letters of greater width, the so-called "littere dilatibiles"; but in early prints the first letter of the following word was often inserted instead. Sheet-marks and pagination were only gradually introduced; they were almost invariably in Hebrew letters printed on the recto only; each second page was numbered, the reference to the two sides (pages) of the sheet being by alef, bet, nowadays represented by a, b; e.g., B. Ḳ. 10b; R. H. 17a (Isaiah Berlin tried to introduce the full point and colon, but without much success). The pagination of the Talmud was established by Bomberg, the arrangement of whose pages has been followed in all subsequent editions. Vowel-points and accents occur for the most part only in Bibles and prayer-books, and divisions of chapter and verse in the Bible only rarely till later times.

The paper of the early prints is generally good; that of the eighteenth century usually the opposite; the issues of Fürth, Cracow, and Rödelheim are generally distinguished by their foxy paper. White paper was generally used, but the Oppenheimer collection contained fifty-seven volumes on blue, seven on green, two on yellow, and a Haggadah on red paper. Rubrics are printed in red in a work issued at Freiburg in 1584. Amsterdam printers sometimes print red on white; Deinard at Newark on varicolored paper. Large-paper editions occur rather frequently, and parchment was used for special copies, the Oppenheimer collection having fifty-one of these, and many of the copies of the Bologna Tefillah of 1537 being printed on that material, though one on excellent paper is to befound in the Sulzberger collection at New York. All kinds of format occur from the earliest times, but the folio and quarto were chiefly used, the octavo and duodecimo being employed mainly in prayer-books. In the Oppenheimer collection the proportions of the various sizes were as follows:

Folio

1,005

Quarto

1,240

Octavo

901

Duodecimo

330

Strange to say, one of the most bulky of Hebrew books was also one of the earliest, Avicenna's "Canon," with 826 folio pages; this, however, is now far exceeded by the Babli with its 2,947 pages in one volume (Berdychev, 1894).

The Leghorn prints were at times in oblong form, while the recent Aden productions are of the same form, but with the longer side at the back. For variations of the Title-Pages see Jew. Encyc. xii. 154, and for ornamentations see the article Printers' Marks. To those mentioned in the latter article the following may be added: Ashkenazi (Safed, 1587), lion with two tails; Bat-Sheba (Salonica), half lion, half eagle; Mayer ben Jacob (Venice), elephant; Conti (Cremona), shield, angel, eagle; Abraham b. David (Talmud Torah, Salonica, 1719), three crowns; Koelner (Frankfort-on-the-Main), imperial eagle; De Lannoy (Offenbach), nest of bird with flowers; Aaron Lipman (Sulzbach), tree, crab, fish, and serpent; Shabbethai Bass (Dyhernfurth), two bars of music.

The idea of representing the title-page of a book as a door with portals appears to have attracted Jewish as well as other printers. The fashion appears to have been started at Venice about 1521, whence it spread to Constantinople. Bomberg used two pillars in his "Miklol" of 1545, and this was imitated at Cracow and Lublin. These pillars are often supported by, or support, figures, draped or undraped, as in the "Toẓe'ot Ḥayyim" of Cracow (c. 1593). A Maḥzor of Cracow (1619) has a flying angel of death, while the Pirḳe R. Eliezer of Constantinople (1640) has a centaur and siren. The tree with the shield of David supported by two lions appears first in the Sabbionetta prints, and is imitated by other symbolic figures, as the eagle in the Amsterdam Seliḥot of 1677. These decorations of the title-page led later to illustrations within the work itself, the first of these being in the "Mashal ha-Ḳadmoni," Soncino, 1491. The "Yosippon" and other works of a historical character were favorite receptacles for rather crude illustrations of this kind, as were also the Passover Haggadot, in which even maps of the Holy Land were printed (see Haggadah).

The place and date of printing, as also the name of the printer, were generally expressed in Colophons, but in later times were also placed on the title-page. The day of the week is often indicated by references to Biblical texts, having in view the lucky character of Tuesday as a beginning day (see Week). The date is also often made known by a text (see Chronogram). The omission of letters in these dates often leads to confusion (Zunz, "Datenbestimmungen," in "G. S." i.); and the place of publication does not always coincide with that of printing. Even the place of printing has sometimes to be checked, as frequently German printers attempted to claim the style and authority of Amsterdam, and those of Fürth passed themselves off as coming from Sulzbach. The place of printing was sometimes omitted in order to evade the censor.

Information is often given in these colophons as to the size of the office and the number of persons engaged therein and the character of their work. In the larger offices there would be a master printer ("ba'al madpis"), who was sometimes identical with the proprietor of the office ("ba'al ha-defus"). The actual printer was called "madpis," or sometimes "meḥoḳeḳ." The master printer was occasionally assisted by a manager or factor ("miẓib 'al hadefus"). Besides these there was a compositor ("meẓaref" or "mesadder"), first mentioned in the "Leshon Limmudim" of Constantinople (1542). Many of these compositors were Christians, as in the workshop of Juan di Gara, or at Frankfort-on-the-Main, or sometimes even proselytes to Judaism (see above). Finally, good proof-readers or correctors for the press were always indispensable. They were called "maggihim." Notwithstanding their help, a list of errata was often necessary, one of the earliest occurring in a German Maḥzor produced at Salonica in 1563.

V12p331001.jpgFrom the Letteris Bible, Vienna, 1892.

Up to the nineteenth century all work was naturally hand-work, and printing was comparatively slow. It took nearly a whole year for the Soncinos to print off 638 folio pages, while sixty years later Giustiniani printed 190 pages of Maimonides' letters in seven days.

For the injury done to the correctness of the text by the censors before and even after printing, see Censorship of Hebrew Books. The existence of censors in Italy, Germany, and Poland rendered the works printed previous to 1554 (the date of the Ferrara conference on this subject) of especial value for the text, though care was taken by the Jews themselves before that date not to offend Christianprejudices too much by printing the more out-spoken passages. In a measure Jews had their own censorship in the form of Approbations ("haskamot"), without which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries no book was considered altogether respectable. These approbations were sometimes accompanied by special privileges, as when the rabbis of Venice issued a decree against any one buying a certain book except from the printer; and the parnasim of Amsterdam had the right of inflicting a fine for the infringement of the copyright of any one whom they favored. In the case of the Frankfort Talmud imperial permission was found necessary to produce it.

Of the cost of printing in early times little is known. The "Yeẓer Ṭob" of Venice (1597-1606) cost a thousand florins to print, while the thirty-six pages of the "Zore la Nefash" (?) of Venice (1619) cost as much as twenty-five ducats. Joseph Witzenhausen got four thalers a sheet for the Judæo-German translation of the Bible published by Athias. In the early days 300 copies of a work were sufficient. This number of the Psalms with Ḳimḥi (1477) was printed; so, too, of the "Yafeḳ Raẓon," while of the "Torat Ḥesed" only 200 came into existence. For the methods adopted in selling books see the article Book-Trade.

Turning to the technical side of Hebrew printing, it has to be remarked that in the justification of Hebrew, wide spacing is to be preferred, and that the vowels and accents have to be justified in a separate line after the consonants have been set up. The wide spacing is rendered necessary by the fact that hyphens can not be used in ordinary Hebrew printing, though in modern works this use is creeping in. To fill out spaces, as mentioned above, the extended letters, "alef," "he," "ḥet," "lamed," "mem," and "taw," are used.

In ordinary Hebrew printing "the compositor begins as he does with English, by setting the characters at the left hand of his copy, turning the nicks of his type inward to face the composing-rule. When the line has been spaced and justified . . . it is turned in the stick" (De Vinne, "Modern Methods of Book Composition," p. 245, New York, 1904). The arrangement of cases for Hebrew varies in different offices, but the accompanying illustration shows that generally adopted. The characters and points most used are in the lower case; accents, broad or extended letters, and letters with points are in the upper case.

The difficulty of Hebrew printing for persons not accustomed to the language consists in the great similarity of some of the letters, as "he," "ḥet," and "taw," "dalet" and "resh," "shin" and "sin," and other letters only distinguished by a dot, representing the dagesh. Final "pe" and final "ẓade" also are sometimes confounded, while their hair-lines often tend to break off during press-work. The contrast of the shaded portions of the letters with the hair-lines is perhaps the most marked type-founder's characteristic of Hebrew as compared with Roman type, in which hair-lines are avoided as much as possible. The actual forms of the letters have changed little since the first appearance of matrices in Italy in the fifteenth century. The tendency is rather toward making the letters smaller in size and squarer. Some of the most beautiful type of this kind is that of Filipowski. It is said that compositors unfamiliar with Hebrew tend to set type more accurately, though more slowly, owing to the extra care they devote to following copy. Few ordinary printing establishments have Hebrew type, and on the rare occasions when it is necessary to use it it is customary to borrow it from an establishment with a more varied outfit of types, or to have the type set up in such an establishment, the whole matter cast, and transferred bodily as a single type into the text. Christian printers handle only the square letter, Rashi and cursive always being set up by Jewish typesetters.

With regard to the works which have been turned out by Hebrew printers during the last 450 years, it would be interesting to determine approximately their number and character. During the first quarter of the century in which incunabula were produced (1475-1500) 100 Hebrew works were issued, at the rate of four per annum. During the next forty years (1500-40) about 440 were issued (M. Schwab, in "Les Incunables Orientaux," enumerates 430 up to this period) averaging eleven per annum. During the next two periods from 1540 to 1732 a rough estimate would give the number of works at 6,605; namely, Bibles,710; Targum, 70; Talmud, 590; ritual, 1,000; anonymous, 350; Judæo-German, 385; and works of specific authors, 3,500—an average of about thirty-three works issued per annum. During the 160 years since the last-mentioned date the production has rapidly increased, but it is difficult to determine the exact numbers. Some indication can be obtained by the gradually increased number of Hebrew works mentioned in the various sources as follows:

Wiener's list promises to run to 17,000. If one may judge from the numbers given by him, and take account of the fact that the average recorded by Steinschneider between 1860 and 1880, about 100 per annum, is at best only a minimum, having been recently largely increased, there can be no doubt that 20,000 volumes have been produced during the last period. This is confirmed by the fact that the Asiatic Museum of St. Petersburg, containing the largest Hebrew collection in the world, has no less than 30,000 volumes, of which 5,000 are written in Judæo-German and Yiddish. The Jerusalem National Library (founded by Chazanowicz) in 1902 had 22,233 volumes, 10,900 of them Hebrew ("Ha-Meliẓ," 1902, No. 259). The British Museum in 1867 had nearly the same number. It would be of interest to compare the classes under which these various works are included, with the relative number of volumes contained in these two collections (see preceding table).

Classes.

Zedner.

Chazanowicz.

1.

Bibles

1,260

794

2.

Bible Commentaries

510

3.

Talmud

730

4.

Talmud Commentaries

700

202

5.

Methodology

....

272

6.

Codes

1,260

447

7.

Code Commentaries

....

386

8.

Novellæ

520

644

9.

Responsa

....

512

10.

Liturgy

1,200

881

11.

Midrash and Yalḳuṭ

150

389

12.

Sermons

450

587

13.

Cabala

460

533

14.

Grammar and Dictionaries

450

588

15.

History, Archeology, and Memoirs.

320

1,231

16.

Geography and Travels in Palestine

....

292

17.

Poetry, Criticism

770

585

18.

Science

180

260

19.

Theology and Polemics

690

449

20.

Ethics

....

430

21.

Educational

....

265

22.

Fiction

....

510

23.

Periodicals, Newspapers, Catalogues

....

648

24.

Yiddish

....

900

It would be still more interesting to determine the actual works and editions of them which go to make up the 20,000 or so separate works which have been produced by the Hebrew presses up to the end of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately Hebrew bibliography is not in such a state that this could be done with any approach to accuracy, but a considerable number of subject lists have been made from which a close approximation can be given for the various branches. The sources from which lists are derived vary in thoroughness, mainly according to their date. Information from Reland, or the old Oppenheim catalogue of 1826, naturally does not vie with points ascertained from Steinschneider or S. Wiener, but such as it is, the following list will serve both as an indication of the topics treated of in Hebrew literature and as a guide to the sources in which the fullest account at present known is given. Occasionally the lists include sections of works which should not strictly be counted, as this leads to duplication, and besides some of the entries include also manuscripts. On the other hand, these items probably do not more than compensate for the omissions in the older lists. In some few instances no actual enumeration is accessible, and in these cases the number given by the Chazanowicz collection has been repeated as being the closest approximation that can now be offered. Altogether about 15,380 works are thus accounted for out of the 18,000 or 20,000 Hebrew works and editions that have been produced.

Subject.

No.

Source.

I.

Bibles

......

British Museum Catalogue.

Polyglot

220

Complete

175

Yiddish

3

Pentateuch

177

Prophets

6

Hagiographa

13

Pentateuch Parts.

15

Megillot Parts.

10

Psalms

44

Prophets, additional.

11

Apocrypha

12

II.

Bible Commentaries

......

Reland, "Analecta Rabbinica."

Complete Bible

11

Pentateuch

214

Prophets

39

Hagiographa

62

Supercommentaries.

65

Megillot

106

Miscellaneous

145

Targum

10

III.

Talmud

172

Zedner and Van Straalen.

IV.

Talmud Commentaries on Separate Tractates.

196

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres."

V.

Methodology.

Indexes

90

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres."

Hermeneutics

237

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres."

VI.

Codes

310

Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl."

VII.

Code Commentaries

185

Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl."

Maimonides

207

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres ha-Rambam."

On the 613 Commandments.

171

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres Taryag."

VIII.

Novellæ

298

Benjacob, s.v. "Ḥiddushim."

Posḳim

347

Oppenheim.

Names

93

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres Mazkir."

IX.

Responsa

611

Merzbacher, "Ohel Abraham," 1888.

X.

Liturgy

1,544

Zedner and Van Straalen.

Teḥinnot

123

Oppenheim.

Seliḥot

97

Oppenheim.

Haggadah

898

S. Wiener, "Oster-Haggadah." St. Petersburg, 1902.

XI.

Midrash

213

Jellinek, "Ḳonṭres Midrash."

XII.

Sermons

587

Chazanowicz.

Burial

123

Jellinek, " "Ḳonṭres ha- Masped."

XIII.

Cabala

104

Bartolocci.

XIV.

Grammar and Dictionaries.

588

Chazanowicz.

Lexicons

59

Wolf.

Grammar

424

Steinschneider, "Bibl. Hand."

XV.

History, Archeology, and Memoirs.

History

317

Steinschneider, "Geschichts-Litteratur der Juden," 1905.

Tombstone Inscriptions.

21

Jew. Encyc. iii. 641-642, s.v. "Cemeteries."

Taḳḳanot

17

Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." vi. 16.

XVI.

Geography

118

Zunz. "G. S."

Palestine

154

Steinschneider, in Luncz's "Luaḥ," 1872.

XVII.

Poetry, Criticism

585

Chazanowicz.

Occasional Poetry

207

Benjacob, s.v. "Shirim."

Letters

142

Benjacob, s.v. "Iggerot."

Tales

150

Benjacob s.v. "Ma'assim."

Rhetoric

56

Oppenheim.

Purim and Parodies.

28

Steinschneider. in "Monatschrift 1903.

Purim Parodies

57

Steinschneider, in "Letterbode."

Drama, Original

52

Berliner, "Yesod 'Olam," p. xiii.

XVIII.

Science

260

Chazanowicz.

Mathematics

271

Steinschneider, "Mathematik bei den Juden" (to 1650).

Medicine

46

Benjacob, s.v. "Refu'ah."

Astronomy

80

Bartolocci.

Chronology

27

Bartolocci.

Calendar

77

Zeitlin, in Gurland's "Luaḥ," 1882.

XIX.

Theology and Polemics.

449

Chazanowicz.

Anti-Christian Polemics.

182

De Rossi, "Bibliotheca Judaica Anti-Christiana."

Future Life

44

E. Abbot, "Literature of Future Life." 1891.

Karaitica

51

Deinard (MS. list).

Hasidica

307

XX.

Ethics

34

Stein, "Ethik des Talmuds."

Wills, Ethical

60

Abrahams, in "J. Q. R." 481, 4.

Philosophy

76

Oppenheim.

Proverbs

184

Bernstein, "Livres Parémiologiques Warsaw, 1900.

XXI.

Educational

265

Chazanowicz.

XXII.

Fiction

510

Chazanowicz.

XXIII.

Periodicals.

Hebrew

199

Yiddish

191

Ladino

53

Almanacs

58

Benjacob, s.v. "Luḥot."

Catalogues

46

Zedner.

XXIV.

Yiddish

311

Wiener. "Yiddish Literature," p. 99.

Judæo-German

385

Steinschneider, "Serapeum," 1848.

XXV.

Ladino

164

Kayserling, "Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud."

XXVI.

Translations, Modern.

152

Jew. Encyc.s.v.

In addition to the examples of Hebrew printing which are given as illustrations in the present article (all of them being derived from the Sulzberger collection in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York city), the volumes of The Jewish Encyclopedia contain a larger number of reproductions of Hebrew typography than have ever yet been brought together, a list of which, in order of place of publication, may fitly conclude this account.

Where Printed.

Date.

Title.

Jew. Encyc.

v.

p.

Alcala

1514

Bible Polyglot

iii.

159

Altdorf

1644

Title-page of "Sefer Niẓẓaḥon"

xii.

153

Amsterdam

1666

Title-page of Shabbethaian "Tiḳḳun

xii.

156

Amsterdam

1679

Title-page of Bible

xii.

155

Amsterdam

1701

"Sefer Raziel"

x.

336

Amsterdam

1726

Picart, title-page of Pentateuch

x.

29

Amsterdam

1787

"Me'ah Berakot"

iii.

8

Amsterdam

....

Title-page of miniature Siddur

xii.

156

Amsterdam

....

Title-page of Bible

xii.

157

Basel

1534

Münster Bible

ix.

113

Berlin

1702

Jacob b. Asher, Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim

v.

151

Bologna

1477

Psalms with Ḳimḥi

iii.

155

Bologna

1482

Psalms with Pentateuch

iii.

157

Bologna

1538

"Tefillot Latini"

iii.

299

Brescia

1491

Immanuel b. Solomon, "Meḥabberot

vi.

565

Brescia

1494

Bible

iii.

158

Budapest

1903

Karaite Siddur

x.

179

Constantinople.

1512

Midrash Tillim

iv.

241

Constantinople.

1517

Moses ibn Tibbon translation of Maimonides' "Sefer ha-Miẓwot

vi.

547

Constantinople.

1520

Baḥya b. Asher, "Kad haḲemaḥ"

iv.

243

Constantinople.

1532

Elijah Mizraḥi "Mispar," Soncino

v.

45

Constantinople.

1620

Midrash Eleh Ezkerah

viii.

577

Cracow

1571

Maḥzor (Judæo-German)

iv.

330

Cracow

....

Printer's mark of Isaac b. Aaron of Prossnitz

x.

200

Dyhernfurth

1771

Periodicals

ix.

605

Fano

1503

Hai Gaon, "Musar Haskel".

v.

340

Fano

1506

Judah ha-Levi, "Cuzari"

vii.

349

Fano

1516

Jacob b. Asher, "Arba' Ṭurim

iii.

643

Faro

1487

Pentateuch

v.

345

Ferrara

1555

Ḥasdai Crescas, "Or Adonai"

v.

371

Genoa

1612

Title-page of "Shefa' Ṭal"

xii.

154

Guadalajara

1482

David Ḳimḥi's Commentary on the Prophets

vi.

103

Homberg-vor-der-Hohe

1737

Schiff, "Hiddushe Halakot"

xi.

99

Isny

1541

Elijah Levita, "Tishbi"

viii.

47

Ixar

1485

Jacob b. Asher, Oraḥ Ḥayyim

vii.

13

Lisbon

1489

Abudarham

viii.

105

Lisbon

1489

Naḥmanides Commentary on the Pentateuch

ix.

89

London

1813

Almanac

i.

428

Lublin

1590

Mordecai Jaffe, "Lebushim"

vii.

59

Lyck

1865

Periodicals

ix.

610

Mantua

1475

"Yosippon"

vii.

261

Mantua

1476

Jacob b. Asher, Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim.

iv.

205

Mantua

Before 1480

Levi b. Gershon, Commentary

iv.

173

Mantua

Before 1480

Levi b. Gershon, Commentary on the Pentateuch

viii.

27

Mantua

1561

"Tefillot Vulgar"

iv.

172

Naples

1487

Ḳimḥi Commentary

x.

247

Naples

1488

Abraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on the Pentateuch

vi.

523

Naples

1489

Baḥya's "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot"

ii.

449

Naples

1489

kalonymus, "Eben Boḥan"

vii.

427

New York

1899

Periodicals

ix.

609

Paris

1543

Stephanus Bible

ix.

538

Paris

1807

Sanhedrin Prayers

xi.

47

Pesaro

1512

Soncino, "Sefer Yehoshua'"

iii.

321

Piove di Sacco

1475

Jacob b. Asher, "Arba' Ṭurim"

vii.

29

Prague

1525

Maḥzor

viii.

267

Prague

1526

Haggadah

vi.

147

Prague

1526

Haggadah

x.

167

Reggio

1475

Rashi, Commentary on the Bible

x.

329

Rödelheim

868

Siddur

x.

177

Rome

1480

"'Aruk"

ix.

181

Rome

1480

"Morch Nebukim"

ix.

79

Rome

1480

"Semag"

ix.

69

Sabbionetta

1559

Talmud

xii.

21

Salonica

1522

Isaac Arama, "'Aḳedat Yiẓḥaḳ"

v.

581

Soncino

1484

Solomon ibn Gabirol, "Mibḥar ha-Peninim"

vi.

531

Soncino

1485

"'Iḳḳarim"

xi.

465

Soncino

1485

Maḥzor

viii.

265

v.

p.

Soncino

Before 1500

Title-page of an unknown edition of the Talmud

xii.

13

Venice

1517

Bomberg Bible

iii.

160

Venice

1520

Bomberg Talmud

xii.

17

Venice

1522

Title-page of Bomberg Talmud

xii.

152

Venice

1526

Bomberg Talmud

iii.

301

Venice

1564

Gershon b. Solomon, "Shefer Sha'ar ha-Shamayim"

iii.

645

Venice

1547

Caro, Shulḥan 'Aruk

iii.

587

Venice

1694

"She'elot u-Teshubot"

xi.

655

Venice

....

Title-page of Ritual

xii.

414

Vienna

1901

Periodicals

ix.

615

Wilna

1865

Title-page of Bible

xii.

157

Wilna

1880

Shulḥan 'Aruk

xii.

529

Wilna

1884

Romm Talmud

xii.

22

Zurich

1546

"Yosippon" (Judæo-German)

vii.

263

Bibliography:

Cassel and Steinschneider, Jüdische Typographie, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28, pp. 21-94, on which the above account is founded;

De Rossi, Annales Hebrœo-Typographici, Parma, 1795;

Schwab, Les Incunables Orientaux, Paris, 1883;

Harkavy, in Cat. of Book Exposition, part viii. (in Russian), St. Petersburg, 1894;

Simonsen, Hebraisk Bogtryk, Copenhagen, 1901;

Theodore L. De Vinne, Modern Methods of Book Composition, p. 246, New York, 1904;